Page 22 of The Sheriff's Baby

“Let me know if you get any updates,” Duncan said to Ruston. “I’ll do the same for you.”

He ended the call and watched as Slater gave both Duncan and his sister long examining looks. Slater sighed because he could no doubt see the exhaustion on Joelle’s face.

“I just did a report with the case updates,” Joelle said, maybe to cut off her brother’s insistence that she get some rest. “I’ll fill in what Ruston just told us and forward copies to you and the other deputies.”

Slater didn’t address that. He went to Joelle, eased her off the sofa and into his arms. He brushed a kiss on the top of her head and touched his hand to her baby bump. “How’s my niece?”

The argument that had been in Joelle’s eyes instantly faded, and she returned her brother’s hug. “I think she’s swimming around in there.”

“Good.” Slater leaned down and put his mouth to Joelle’s stomach. “Hang in there, kid. I just ordered your mom a huge breakfast to be delivered from the diner. Get ready for all kinds of goodies.”

“Thank you,” Joelle muttered.

Duncan sent him a look of thanks, too, and wished he’d thought of it. Of course, Joelle might not eat. She hadn’t touched the yogurt he’d given her earlier, but maybe Slater could give her a brotherly reminder that eating would be good for the baby.

“I managed to postpone my testimony in the trial,” Slater explained, going toward Duncan now. “I figured you could use me back here.”

“I can,” Duncan verified. “We’re hoping the kidnapper will be contacting us soon about releasing Molly, and we need a lot of research done on our suspects.”

“Brad Moreland, his mother, Al Hamlin,” Slater named off. “I saw the report Joelle did about Shanda’s murder so she’s off the list. As soon as I had Hamlin’s name, I contacted a PI friend who lives in San Antonio, and I asked her about him. This particular PI is aGirl with the Dragon Tattoosort of computer whiz, and she’s created all these programs to mine data from old internet articles and social media posts.” He paused. “And yeah, she sometimes hacks to find what she wants.”

Duncan didn’t approve of doing something illegal since they wouldn’t be able to use the info in court. But at the moment he was for any and everything that helped them solve this so they could get Molly back.

“Did this PI find something?” Duncan prompted.

Slater nodded. “On the drive back here, she called me with what she’d dug up. Six years ago when Hamlin was seventeen, he and his then pregnant girlfriend were accused of trying to extort money from a couple who wanted to adopt the baby. They were convicted as juveniles so that’s why the record didn’t pop in a normal background check.”

Joelle went closer to them. “Of course, Hamlin didn’t mention that to us. What happened to the baby?”

“Unknown. The baby’s mother, Erica Corley, was only in juvie lockup for two months, and she was released when she was eight months pregnant. She disappeared shortly thereafter, but my PI friend is trying to track her down.”

“Good,” Duncan muttered. “Because it’d be interesting to find out if Hamlin and she did sell the baby. It also makes me wonder if Hamlin’s missing sister left because he was pressuring her to sell the child.”

“Since I was wondering the same thing, the PI will be looking into that as well,” Slater said. “People put all sorts of stuff on social media so she might be able to find something that’ll clue us in to Isla Hamlin’s disappearance.”

Duncan made a quick sound of agreement just as he heard a shout coming from the bullpen. And the shout came from a voice he instantly recognized from the phone conversation he’d had with him.

“Sheriff Holder?” Brad called out.

So Brad had surfaced after all, and Duncan was a little surprised that he’d actually come in as scheduled without being further prodded. Surprised and very much interested in what the man had to say. With Slater and Joelle following him, Duncan went into the bullpen to find the sandy-haired man struggling to get past Luca who was trying to frisk him. Carmen had stepped in to help, but Slater moved toward the trio, too.

“Settle down,” Slater snapped to Brad. “You don’t get past this point until we’re sure you’re not armed.”

“I’m not armed,” Brad snarled, and he aimed a venomous glare at Duncan. “Shanda’s dead. Dead,” he repeated, his voice breaking on the word. “You should have stopped that from happening. You shouldn’t have allowed her to die.”

Brad’s voice didn’t just break that time. He began to sob, tears spilling down his face. He also stopped struggling with the search.

“He’s not armed,” Luca told Duncan. “What do you want me to do with him?”

“Interview room one,” Duncan said. Because one way or another, he intended to get answers from Brad.

Since Brad wasn’t steady on his feet, Slater took one side of him and Luca took the other. They maneuvered him to the interview room, sat him in the chair, and Joelle got a box of tissues and a bottle of water. What none of them did was give Brad any sympathetic looks because they all knew this could be an act.

That they could be looking at a killer.

“Let me know if you need me,” Luca muttered, heading back toward the bullpen.

“Same here,” Slater said. “I’ll do some more of that digging we were talking about.”

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